A 76-year-old Brooklyn woman became the first known NYC fatality tied to the powerful nor’easter that battered the region when she was struck in the head and killed by a solar panel that blew off a carport at an outdoor parking lot, police and the NYC Buildings Department said.
The freak accident — attributed to the powerful nor’easter winds –happened about 10:30 a.m. Sunday near Ocean Parkway and Brighton Beach Ave., not far from the beaches along southern Brooklyn, as Lyudmila Braun as walking down the street.
Police said a solar panel 3 feet 5 inches wide and 7 feet 3 inches long blew loose from a steel carport structure, flew 20 feet in the air and hit the victim in her head.
The victim, knocked to the ground by the impact, was rushed by medics to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where she was pronounced dead at 11:09 a.m.
The Buildings Department said it issued a partial vacate order to the owners of the parking lot.
